TribCast: Did lawmakers improve Texas’ infrastructure?
Will Texas be able to keep the lights on and water flowing til the next legislative session? Full Story
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![A crew worker attempts to extinguish a leakage as they work to upgrade pipes and valves at a North Alamo Water Supply Corporation water plant in Donna on July 18, 2024.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
“All eyes on San Antonio”: Democratic disunity, GOP push turn mayor’s race into a political battleground
A fragmented local party and a damaged Democratic brand have created the perception that one of Texas’ blue strongholds could be in jeopardy. Full Story
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![Mayoral candidates Gina Ortiz Jones and Rolando Pablos face off in a debate hosted by the San Antonio Report on May 19 at the Stable Hall.]()
Credit: Amber Esparza for the San Antonio Report -
From vouchers to a cellphone ban, this year’s lawmaking session brought transformative changes to Texas schools
An agenda driven by conservative priorities, schools’ financial duress and teacher needs led to an $8.5 billion boost, new discipline rules, more Christianity in classrooms and a DEI ban. Full Story
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![JoMeka Gray teaches a class of kindergarteners at Kennedy-Powell Elementary in Temple on April 17, 2025.]()
Credit: Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Texas Tribune -
What Texas lawmakers did after the state’s largest wildfire
A package of bills aims to better prepare the state to prevent and fight wildfires. Full Story
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![The Rolling Pines Fire blazes through Bastrop State Park on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers voted to ban consumable THC products. Will Gov. Greg Abbott sign — or veto — the bill?
Abbott faces pressure from both sides of the aisle. The prohibition was a priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, but some hemp farmers and veterans want it killed. Full Story
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![Displaying boxes of petitions, members of the Texas Hemp Business Council hold a press conference calling for Gov. Greg Abbott to veto SB 3, a bill which would ban THC products, at the Texas Capitol on June 2, 2025.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
School vouchers, THC ban, property tax cuts: Here’s what Texas lawmakers did in the 2025 regular session
The Legislature wrapped up without the same drama that defined the end of the last two sessions, with state GOP leaders checking off nearly everything on their to-do lists. Full Story
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![State Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, looks out the window from the Texas House of Representatives chamber as the lawmakers debate on bills at the Texas Capitol, on Monday, May 26, 2025.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers expand medical marijuana program eligibility amid looming hemp ban
House Bill 46, which awaits Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval, would include more patients with chronic pain and allow for prescribed vaporized and aerosol products, such as vapes. Full Story
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![An engineer at Texas Original Compassionate Cultivation in South Austin tests for impurities on April 30, 2021.]()
Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune -
In final act, Texas Legislature boosts judges’ pay and lawmaker pensions
House and Senate members agreed that judges needed a pay raise. But they spent the final hours of the legislative session debating whether Texas lawmakers should also benefit from the boost. Full Story
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![State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, answers questions from state Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, regarding a conference committee report which would raise the base pay for Texas judges.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Rep. Tony Tinderholt, voice of the insurgent far right GOP, to retire from the Texas House
Tinderholt attributed his decision to retire to his confidence in a new conservative generation of lawmakers and a desire to spend more time with his family. Full Story
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![Surrounded by colleagues, state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, is overcome with emotion as he announces his retirement from the House on Sine Die, Monday, June 2, 2025.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Texas to increase funding to state film incentive program by $300 million
SB 22, which awaits Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval, injects $300 million over the next two years into projects filmed in Texas, $100 million more than current funding. Full Story
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![Charles Steen, an operator during a film production showcase hosted on the Texas Capitol grounds on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.]()
Credit: Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman/USA TODAY Network via REUTERS -
U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear GOP activist’s lawsuit challenging Texas Ethics Commission’s lobbying fine
Former Empower Texans leader Michael Quinn Sullivan has challenged a $10,000 fine from the Texas Ethics Commission for failure to register as a lobbyist for more than 10 years at nearly every level of the state court system. Full Story
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![Publisher of Texas Scorecard Michael Quinn Sullivan speaks during the Texas GOP Convention Thursday, May 23, 2024 in San Antonio.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
How RFK Jr., Democrats and Republicans found common ground over food labels in Texas
Texas is poised to lead the country in an initiative to inform denizens of what’s in their food. Food industry experts say it’s going too far. Full Story
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![A woman pushes her shopping cart down an aisle at a Brookshire Brothers grocery store in Buffalo, Texas, on June 29, 2023. According to clients of The Lord’s Pantry of Leon County, Brookshire Brothers is the only grocery store in the county which they describe as a food desert.]()
Credit: Joe Timmerman/The Texas Tribune -
Bills aimed at studying, restricting “forever chemicals” in Texas fail
Texas lawmakers bypassed bills that would have restricted “forever chemicals” in sewage sludge, studied health impacts and banned some uses of PFAS-laced firefighting foams. Full Story
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![Cattle grazing in Grandview, Texas on Aug. 5, 2024.]()
Credit: Azul Sordo for The Texas Tribune -
Lawmakers approve bill limiting protests at public universities
The proposal is largely in response to massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year. Critics say it would walk back free speech protections that conservatives advocated for in previous legislative sessions. Full Story
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![Protestors chant at Texas Department of Public Safety troopers as they begin to push students towards Guadalupe Street from the South Lawn during a demonstration in support of Palestine Wednesday, April 24, 2024, at the University of Texas in Austin.]()
Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune -
Bill requiring that Texas sheriffs work with federal immigration authorities heads to governor’s desk
Senate Bill 8 would further expand the state’s role in enforcing immigration laws, long the sole jurisdiction of the federal government. Full Story
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![U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents escort detained migrants off a bus in Laredo on June 15, 2022.]()
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Effort to curb personal injury lawsuit payouts dies in the Texas Legislature
The goal of the bill, according to the author, was to curb “nuclear verdicts” — ones that award victims $10 million or more. Full Story
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![The interior of a CareFlite ambulance vehicle outside the Johnson County County Commissioners office in Cleburne on November 8, 2024.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Texas lawmakers to allow smaller homes on smaller lots
State legislators passed an array of bills this year aimed at reining in the state’s high home prices and rents. Full Story
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![Homes under construction in the Mueller neighborhood in East Austin on Oct. 7, 2023.]()
Credit: John Jordan/The Texas Tribune -
Bill to scrap STAAR test dies in the Texas Legislature
The state standardized test has long been criticized for taking instructional time away from teachers and putting unnecessary pressure on students. Full Story
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![STAAR themed decorations adorn the hallways of Wharton Elementary School in Wharton on April 21, 2018.]()
Credit: Pu Ying Huang for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Legislature gives new city of Starbase authority to shut down local beach for SpaceX launches
Local organizations strongly opposed the measure, hosting phone banking events to urge lawmakers to vote against the bill. Full Story
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![A visitor stands on a dune at Boca Chica Beach near the SpaceX launch site on Aug. 8, 2024.]()
Credit: Ben Lowy for The Texas Tribune -
Long-awaited raise for Texas judges in limbo over legislative pension clash
A bill to increase judicial salaries from $140,000 to $175,000 a year stalled amid a disagreement over lawmakers’ own retirement benefits. Full Story
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![Members of the Texas House of Representatives during their budget discussion on April 10, 2025.]()
Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune